According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) The government will focus on developing the bio-health industry, which does not yet have a clear global leader.

By 2024, the scope of the global bio-health market will be larger than that of the three major industries of Korea (semiconductor, chemistry and automobile) combined.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced March 17 their strategies to develop the bio-health industry as a new industry and also agreed to invest a total of KRW 340 billion (USD 328 million) in 2015.

The government aims to launch five new drugs in the stem cell and gene therapy sectors by 2017.

Korea is the world leader in the commercialization of stem cell therapy and has the second highest number of clinical research projects.

In order to support overseas clinical trials, the government will establish a KRW 110.5 billion public–private fund by 2017 and the Korea Drug Development Fund will provide financial support for overseas clinical trials of high-tech biomedical products.

The government will also develop more skilled workers in the bio industry to meet future demand.

It plans to nurture 2,000 physician-scientists by 2017 and adopt a system to support medical students to grow as doctors with research capabilities.

It will also create 500 relevant jobs by 2017 through providing research internship programs to medical graduates who wish to work as researchers and improving the curriculum of bioinformatics experts training colleges for genome analysis programming.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare will provide comprehensive information on overseas markets, including information about clinical trials, approval and licensing and medical fees, while the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency will create a team that will specialize in medical products to ensure direct support services in foreign markets.

The government will designate the creative economy innovation center in Daejeon as a base to promote cooperation between large-scale companies and small- and medium-sized companies.

eddie@yna.co.kr

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